A senior Home Office minister has dismissed calls to hand responsibility for policing and criminal justice to the Welsh Government, saying there is “no real appetite” in Wales for the changes.

A senior Home Office minister has dismissed calls to hand responsibility for policing and criminal justice to the Welsh Government, saying there is “no real appetite” in Wales for the changes.

Policing Minister Damian Green said creating two separate criminal justice systems would create more bureaucracy and “hinder” the ability of the courts to work quickly to get the right outcomes.

It comes a month after a report from the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee found a separate Welsh legal jurisdiction from England was “constitutionally viable”.

Plaid Cymru has repeatedly called for policing and criminal justice powers to be devolved to Wales and Counsel General Theodore Huckle QC has previously hinted that the Welsh Government is moving to support the establishment of a separate legal system in evidence to Part II of the Silk Commission.

Speaking in 2009, then-Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said a Conservative Government in Westminster would be keen to devolve aspects of policing to Wales, but today Mr Green ruled that out, saying it would not be possible to devolve “some aspects” of policing without full-scale devolution of the criminal justice and legal systems.

He said: “I’m looking at what’s best for victims of crime in Wales and I think they will want a system that works as quickly and as seamlessly as possible.

“If you are a victim of crime you want to see them taken to court, you want that court case to happen quickly, so you cannot see policing in isolation from the whole criminal justice system and there is no real appetite for devolving that.”

He made the comments ahead of a visit to Wales tomorrow, in which he will meet all four of Wales’ police and crime commissioners for the first time since the November elections.

He is also set to meet the four forces’ chief constables and take a tour of a police station in Newport.

Speaking to WalesOnline today, he said the introduction of police and crime commissioners was itself the “largest single devolution in power in policing that one can imagine”., adding: “There has been a very significant devolution with the election of police and crime commissioners, and everyone in Wales has the opportunity to choose someone to whom their local force will be answerable.”

The Minister’s visit to Wales comes a week after Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd said planned reforms to policing risked prompting a “crisis” in the police service.

The far-reaching reforms, set out by former rail regulator Tom Winsor following an 18-month review, include cutting annual pay for new police constables by £4,000 to £19,000 and raising the retirement age of officers from 55 to 60.

The Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, has warned the pay packet for new PCs fails to reflect the demands of the job.

But Mr Green yesterday said only recruits with no training or relevant experience would start on a salary of £19,000, saying police community support officers, special constables and recruits with policing qualifications would start on higher salaries.

And he dismissed Police Federation claims that morale in the police force is at an all-time low.

“I talk to frontline officers whenever I visit police forces and nobody likes pay freezes, nobody likes changes to their pension payments, but I think most officers are realistic,” he said.

“They know the financial situation that this government inherited and they appreciate that everyone has to make some sacrifices.

“I think police officers are obviously concerned and nervous about things like pay freezes, and that’s not surprising, but everyone recognises that these are difficult times.”

Asked about outgoing Dyfed-Powys Chief Constable Ian Arundale’s claims last year that cuts were leading to an “austerity crime wave”, in which lower level crimes were being overlooked, Mr Green said that was “simply not happening”.

He said: “I can look at the figures for Dyfed Powys specifically and crime last year was down by 1%.

“As we all know the amount of money available has been reduced, but if well-organised forces are able to cut crime it shows what we can do when we get the police doing what they should be doing.”

He said new Government schemes aimed at sharing best practice between forces would ensure that the “best ideas in policing are passed around different forces” and that centralising IT contracts would allow forces to procure services on a bigger scale, therefore making savings.

He said training schemes, including one to help police identify victims of human trafficking, would allow forces to, “make sure they are providing a full range of services”.

The Conservative MP also ruled out any Government role in forcing different police forces to amalgamate in order to cut costs on command structures, saying it was “up to local communities to decide” through their directly-elected police and crime commissioners.

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